Beginnings
by SummerStarWatcher
Summary: A look at Ziva's thoughts when she and Tony meet.  Oneshot.


After being sent up to the main floor of NCIS, I went looking for LJ Gibbs. I found the bullpen where he and his team worked, but only one man was present now.

For a moment, I just took in his appearance. He was definitely tired, stressed, and he must be grieving as well, though one would not guess it from his expression. He was quite a handsome man, really, with an air about him that suggested he knew it. Surprisingly, this did not detract from his appeal. This must be Anthony Dinozzo, the ex-cop. I moved forward to introduce myself.

"I used to picture you naked."

I stood there, unsure of how to respond to such an odd statement. I looked around, but there was no one he could be talking to. Had this man even seen me standing here? I started to grin.

He finally noticed me, saying "I'll call you back" and hitting the phone on his desk a couple times, clearly attempting to come up with an explanation for his unusual comment. "Hi" he said to me with a smile. I continued to smirk at him, causing him to continue. "I was just…"

I can't resist. "Having phone sex?"

He laughs, awkward. "Phone sex? No. Ahh… charades."

This was just getting better and better. "Charades. Like, ah," I mimed a camera rolling.

"You've played!"

He was getting too comfortable now. Better throw him off again. "Never on the telephone."

"Yeah… My partner and I were coming up with quotes for Saturday night."

Really, couldn't this man come up with anything plausible? "You play charades on Saturday night?" I said, affecting a skeptical tone.

Now he was fed up with me. "To kill time before I go clubbing, who are you?"

"Ziva David, Mossad."

"You're Israeli?"

"Very good, the way you made that connection. Mossad, Israeli." So far, I was not impressed. Anthony's file made him out to be quite the agent, smart, skilled, capable. He was not living up to his reputation yet. Then again, I had caught him at a bad time, and grief dulls even the best agents.

The thought that perhaps he was remembering and fantasizing about the lost team member, Kate, did not sit well with me for some reason. If I know myself so well, I would have said it was jealousy. But that was ridiculous. How could I be jealous of a man I had just met? No, I must still just be off kilter from the long flight from Tel Aviv.

He was speaking again. "What can I do for you, miss David?" Very courteous, very polite. He had regained his footing.

"Nothing. I'm here to see Special Agent Gibbs."

"How do you know I'm not Gibbs?"

I couldn't help but laugh at that. Did Anthony really think we hadn't done our research before sending me over here? "Gibbs," I said pointedly, sitting down at one of the vacant desks.

"He'll be back in an hour. Are you sure I can't help you?"

Oh great, more waiting. "I don't think so."

He regarded me for a moment, then spoke again. "We got off to a bad start. I'm Special Agent Tony Dinozzo. I wasn't playing charades, I was remembering my partner."

"Naked?" I was not quite sure why I was so intent on messing with him. I was not being very sympathetic, but a confused and unsure Tony, as he said he was called, was very amusing to me.

"No. Yes. I-"

I just stared at him, off-balancing him further. He was quite cute when he was trying to figure out what to say.

He tried again. "Look, I'm not the only man who does it."

He was just setting himself up for me, again and again. It was as easy as shooting fish in a box. "Oh, women do it to" I said, leisurely looking him up and down. "Particularly with handsome men." The poor man was really not sure at all how to handle me. Did his partner never tease him? He just nodded and looked at me funny, then went back to his desk. "And even an occasional woman," I called after him.

"Now you're teasing me," he said, finally catching on.

"Didn't your partner tease you?" I asked, voicing my earlier question.

"Not about sex, Kate was kinda Puritanical," came the answer, as Tony's smile slipped away.

"Sorry." And I was. I had liked that smile, liked how easy it was to talk to him, to tease him.

"Well it didn't matter, I wasn't interested in her, we were—partners."

He was clearly caught in a memory, and I didn't like that. I preferred him to be here with me, rather than in his mind with her. For someone I only met a few minutes ago, I was strangely attached to this man. I wanted to distract him, but I also wanted to know more about Kate, to know what I was up against. _Now why would I think of it that way?_

"She wasn't attractive?"

"She was." My heart sank. "But not to me." That didn't make me feel any better.

"Then why did you imagine her naked?"

Tony's smile had returned. "Miss David. You can sit there and slouch there provocatively for an hour if you like, or you can tell me what you need, and maybe I can help."

Playtime was over. I was all business now. "You can't help because I'm here to stop Agent Gibbs from killing a Mossad officer."

"Ari Haswari?"

"Yes."

He smiled again, crooked his finger at me. I leaned in. "Well, I'd wish you luck, but I want the bastard dead too."


End file.
